Benny and the rest moved to destroy the rear guard of the rat men scouts. They were protecting supplies, logistics, and ammunition. A surprise assault caught them completely off guard.
Multiple arrows flew through the air in succession. Senna and Lyra, their ranged specialists, unleashed the first volley. Lyra was a merchant's daughter, but she'd lived a life of adventure too. She'd trained herself from childhood how to defend herself, falling in love with the bow early on. Now she and Senna were their damage dealers, opening the battle with arrows from the darkness.
Two rat men fell within seconds, precise shots to vital organs. They died without making a sound. The ones beside them didn't even notice at first. They only realized something was wrong when bodies started dropping around them.
But by then, it was too late.
The melee fighters from Benny's team charged without warning. They crashed into the confused rat men while they were still reeling from the arrow attack. Steel clashed against the rat men's armor. Ripler's blade carved through one defender without hesitation. Kael moved with controlled fury, each strike calculated to end the fight faster.
Then commands came from the rat men's side, shouted in their own language. The humans couldn't understand the words, but the meaning was clear enough.
"We are under attack! Prepare for battle! No, no, no please I have children back home! Ahhhhhg!"
Their voices mixed fear and defiance, but Benny and the rest didn't care. Their goal was clear: destroy the rear guard and salvage whatever equipment they could.
After five minutes of fighting, all the rat men stationed at the rear were dead. Benny's team evaluated their opponents' skill level. Even accounting for the surprise advantage wearing off, the rat men were only mediocre fighters. But mediocrity could be overwhelming when there were hundreds of them against a small group.
Twenty rat men lay dead on the cold stone floor.
Gustav surveyed the scene and made his decision. "We're done here. Leave the loot for now. We need to find the rest of their force."
The goal was simple: eradicate this vanguard scouting force and use their own weapons against their main army.
They moved forward, listening for sounds of battle. A few minutes of walking brought distant sounds of fighting. They couldn't pinpoint the location yet. The darkness made navigation difficult.
But Benny knew these tunnels better than anyone. He'd mapped this floor a hundred times over.
"Shit! It's near the sanctuary! Let's move!"
The group accelerated, urgency driving them forward. They had to get there before the siege broke through or the sanctuary was overrun.
After a few more minutes, they arrived at the rear of the sanctuary. The cave entrances were surrounded. Rat men had formed a siege, sending volleys of arrows toward the cave openings. They weren't attacking directly. They were just keeping the humans pinned down, waiting for them to either break and die or starve inside.
Benny assessed the situation quickly. "They can't get in, so they're waiting for us out. Either we come out and die, or we wait and die anyway."
"Then we don't give them the choice," Gustav said. "We hit them from behind while they're focused on the cave."
The rat men were so occupied with their bombardment that they didn't notice Benny's team positioning themselves. An old tactic, simple and effective. Hammer and anvil. Attack from two sides and crush the target between them.
"Charge!" Gustav's voice cut through the noise, carrying two messages at once. One to his team, rallying them. One to the people inside the sanctuary, letting them know they weren't alone. That help had arrived.
What had been a siege became a three-way battle. The rat men found themselves caught between two human forces. The cave defenders and the external strike team, both closing in.
Each side had different goals. The rat men wanted to crush the humans before reinforcements could be organized. Benny's team wanted to break the siege and drive the invaders back. The sanctuary defenders just wanted to survive another day.
The labyrinth echoed with the sounds of battle. Steel on steel. Shouts of rage and pain. The cries of the dying.
Only time would tell who would walk away from this. Because as the saying went, even a cornered rat becomes dangerous. And these were no ordinary rats.